IV. Read the text below. Choose the best alternative from the box to fill in each of the gaps.
1. The distinction between microeconomics and macroeconomics is more than the difference between economics in the small and economics in the large,………………………. .
2. Microeconomics and macroeconomics take different approaches ………..
3. Microeconomics places the emphasis on a detailed understanding of particular markets. To achieve this amount of detail or magnification, …… .
4. Because macroeconomics is concerned primarily with the interaction of different parts of the economy, ………….. .
5.Macroeconomics simplifies the building block in order to…………… .
6. Macroeconomics is concerned with broad aggregates ………. .
a) many of the interactions with other markets are suppressed
b) such as the total demand for goods by households or the total spending on machinery and building by firms
c) to keep the analysis manageable
d) which the Greek prefixes micro and macro suggest
e) focus on how they fit together and influence one another
f) it relies on a different simplification to keep the analysis manageable
V. Which of the following statements are the concern of microeconomics and which of macroeconomics?
a) Along with other Western economies, the UK faced a sharp rise in the unemployment rate in the early 1980s.
b) The imposition of higher taxes on tobacco will discourage smoking.
c) Unemployment among building labourers rose sharply in the early 1980s.
d) An increase in a society’s aggregate income is likely to be reflected in higher consumer spending.
e) A worker who has received a pay rise is likely to buy more luxury goods.
f) A firm will invest in a machine if the expected rate of return is sufficiently high.
g) High interest rates in an economy may be expected to discourage aggregate investment.
h) The level of gross national product in the UK is higher this year than in 1990.
VI. Translate from Russian into English.
1. Уровень макроэкономического анализа относится либо к экономике как целому, либо к таким составляющим ее подразделениям, или агрегатам, как правительственный сектор, домохозяйства и частный сектор.
2. Макроэкономические исследования различных экономических проблем охватывают анализ таких величин, общий объем продукции, общий уровень занятости, общий объем дохода, общий объем расходов, общий уровень цен и т.д.
3. Микроэкономический анализ имеет дело с конкретными экономическими единицами, с детальным изучением поведения этих единиц.
Unemployment
A basic understanding of economics tells us that unemployment is a problem of the entire society.
To define unemployment, we start with the idea of the labor force. The population is divided into two parts, those in and those out of the labour force. Those out of the labor force are categorized as unable to be employed, in school, housekeeping, or “other.” Everyone else between ages 16 and 65 is in the labor force. The labor forceitself is divided into two groups, those employed and those unemployed but looking for work. The latter group, those unemployed but looking for work, is what we call unemployed.
Unemployment may be defined as a situation in which people who are qualified for job, and willing to accept the going wage rate cannot find jobs without considerable delay. There are three important aspects to this definition.
First, a person has to be qualified for a job. A person is not involuntarily unemployed if one seeks that one is precluded from obtaining because of lack of training, experience, and education. For example, one cannot be considered an unemployed truck driver if he is unable to drive a truck.
Second, a person is not considered unemployed if he or she is not seeking a job willing to work at the market wage rate. Some can decide to withdraw their labour services because they prefer leisure to work at a market rate. These people represent a type of unemployment, but not the kind that usually presents a problem.
Third, it may take time to find a job that a person is qualified for and is willing to accept at the going wage rate. However, the delay should probably not extend beyond a 30- or 60-day period for most occupations. Some may believe that this time period is too long for people to be without jobs.
The major types of unemployment are frictional, seasonal, cyclical, and structural. Frictional unemploymentincludes those people in the process of relocating from one job to another. They might be moving across country, or taking a vacation between jobs, or finding their first job. At any point in time, about 4 percent of the labor force is frictionally unemployed. They are counted as unemployed, but they are not a source of concern. These people are only out of a job for a short time, and they are voluntarily unemployed.
Seasonal unemploymentis also expected. Workers are laid off during the off season. Lifeguards on the lake shore in Chicago are employed in the summer and not the winter, ski instructors on the bunny slope in Vermont find the opposite true. There may be fewer construction jobs during the winter months. Since these individuals are out of work for a major portion of a year, their lack of employment is of greater concern than is that for individuals who are frictionally unemployed.
Cyclical unemployment is not expected and is a serious concern for society.
Cyclical unemploymentoccurs when the economy slows down, and there are more unemployed people than there are available jobs. Then we have people who desire to work on one hand, and a desire for the products that these people could produce on the other, but the economic system cannot seem to make the two meet.
Structural unemployment concerns the attempt to put square pegs into round holes. Translated into human terms, structural unemploymentoccurs when there are many people unemployed while there are many jobs available, but the unemployed lack the necessary qualifications for the jobs. Structural unemployment results from economic changes that cause the demand for specific kinds of labour to be low relative to the supply in particular markets and regions of the economy.
Typically, there are many job offerings but usually at specified levels of accountants, programmers, managers, and engineers — all requiring experience, of course. These are not the skills possessed by the majority of the unemployed.
Structural unemployment is becoming an increasing problem in our rapidly changing industrial society. New skills become more rapidly obsolete as society and its technology and demands change. Structural unemployment may be one of the most pressing unemployment problems that we face.
Voluntary unemployment exists when people choose not to work, often because they cannot find jobs that pay enough money (e.g. more than social security benefits).
Classical unemployment is the lost of jobs caused when wages are too high.
Vocabulary notes
unemployment безработица
unemployed безработный
lack (of) недостаток ч-л.
market wage rate рыночный уровень заработной платы
occupation род занятий, профессия
lay off увольнять
job offering предложение работы
social security benefits социальные пособия
Tasks
I. Find in the text English equivalents for the following:
рабочая сила, недостаток образования, принимать рыночный уровень заработной платы, искать работу, вакансии, увольнять, экономические изменения, устаревший (ненужный), социальные пособия, заработная плата.
II. Consult the dictionary and give Russian equivalents for the followin:
to be qualified for job, to accept the going wage rate, considerable delay, lack of sth, to distinguish between different types, transitional, temporary unemployment, to arise, a significant problem, flow of information, long run, to occur, to match, to result from, relatively low, productive capacity, devastating effect, recession, demand for labour declines, to fluctuate, social security benefits.
III. Find words or expressions in the text which correspond to the following definitions:
1) the workforce
2) a person without any permanent job
3) meeting the proper standards and requirements and training for an office or position or task
4) the accumulation of knowledge or skill that results from direct participation in events or activities
5) the state of being employed or having a job
6) weekly payment given for work done
7) an ability that has been acquired by training
8) an amount of something available for use
9) the ability and desire to purchase goods and services
10) money provided by the government to people who need it
IV. True or false?
1. One cannot be considered an unemployed truck driver if he is unable to drive a truck.
2. Frictional unemployment is long run in nature.
3. Structural unemployment occurs when the skills of available workers do not match the jobs vacant.
4. Changes in consumer preferences for products expand production and employment in all areas.
5. A decline in aggregate demand in the economy increases total production.
6. Voluntary unemployment exists when people choose not to work.
7. Classical unemployment is the lost of jobs caused when wages are low.